Thursday, February 23, 2012

Well, That's a New One

Last week I was late for our morning meeting.

Ordinarily this wouldn't be any big thing, I'd just take a look at why I was late and figure out how to prevent that from happening again. What was notable, is that to prevent this from happening again, I'd have to take earthquakes into account for each morning commute.

Somewhat comically, I was in a subway tunnel when the small 3.5 magnitude earthquake halted my train last Thursday.

The actual rattling of the earth couldn't be felt over normal train vibration, but it did apparently kick a switch on the tracks. We sat there in silence for what felt like forever. Finally, we began to inch forward into the next station as the conductor informed us that we must remain calm — a small earthquake means that they'll need clearance to proceed manually.

"Well, that's a new one," I thought, as I headed up the stairs in search of a cab.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

de Young

Last weekend das girlfriend and I invested in a trip to the de Young Museum in San Francisco. They were having a special exhibition on Masters of Venice. Being the fine Italian painting connoisseur that I am, it was naturally at this exhibit that I learned Leonard da Vinci wasn't from Venice.

The paintings themselves ranged from Eh, I think I could do that to Whoa. Is that a photo? Which is probably roughly where my explanation of the artistry should end.

Less than thrilled was Ginger when encountering the still life portion of the museum. It seemed that her reaction to the subject of bread could be a work of art all its own, so naturally I pulled out my camera.

Ginger vs Bread Slice

Ginger vs The Slice

Ginger vs Bread Stack

Ginger vs Bread Stack


Fun Fact One of the permanent exhibits features Canadian art that's hundreds of years old. I never knew how popular cribbage was until spotting upwards of 40 boards.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

English to English Translations

Back when I was in Little Rock, there were a few mixups with the local language that I just didn't know how to process. Asking the questions landed us all on the same page. It's from this that I've created a table of English-to-English translations.

PhraseMeaning
y'ort'a you ought to
y'all you or you all

Our current San Francisco team includes an Australian and an Englishman. The phrases they've brought to light for me in two weeks are top notch.

A rather incomplete list of things that mean this is bad

  • This is a bit how's your father
  • This is a bit pants
  • This is a bit ass about face

Proposal

Finally, I'm throwing my own entry in the ring: cabbage. For my money, there's nothing more subtle in its badness than cabbage.

This is [a bit] cabbage.